Booker prize-winning author, John Banville, serves up another literary masterpiece with The Infinities - an intelligent and witty reflection on the demise of the paterfamilias, Adam (this is no subtle reference to the father of men, the original Adam) as he lies on his deathbed, apparently insensate but in fact aware of all that happens around him, his family and an unwelcome stranger gathering at his bedside. Adam Godley is the decaying godhead; an academic who seems detached from the physical world around him, more interested in his mathematical calculations and the disproving of all past certainties through his groundbreaking theorems than his relationship with his family. He is the disembodied and omniscient narrator but so too are the gods from the Greek pantheon who intrude on the mortals, shape-shifting to allow erotic and mischievous encounters that change the course of their lives. Toying with humans for their own sport, the gods offer neither comfort to the dying Adam nor hope to the bereaved relatives, they remain invisible and un-thought of , only acting in order to divert themselves from the monotony of their immortality, their infinity. This novel is stylish and amusing; it approaches the weighty issues of whether we can find any meaning or purpose in our lives, our work, our relationships, and then suggests that all this contemplation is mere vanity and hubris. Refreshingly there is even a note of self-mockery to Banville’s novel: just like Adam and the gods , the artist creates his fictional characters and places them in relation to each other in their fictional world, manipulates and directs them, only to destroy them. An endlessly interesting and original story handled with finesse, this is one of the most enjoyable books of the year. Published by Picador 2009.
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